Washington broke up its Alabama trio at defensive tackle over the weekend, activating Jonathan Allen from IR and cutting Phidarian Mathis. This decision generated interest around the league.
Mathis did not make it far down the waiver wire, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reporting the young D-lineman is heading to the Jets. They are far from the only team to make a play for the former second-round pick, who has another season remaining on his rookie contract.
The Bengals, Lions and Texans also stepped in with waiver claims for Mathis, Rapoport adds. Sitting at 4-12, the Jets held the top waiver spot here and will almost certainly take the 2025 offseason to further assess Mathis, who came off the board early during the 2022 draft. He just has yet to justify that Commanders investment.
Despite this Washington regime change leading many Ron Rivera investments off the roster this offseason, Mathis played a career-high 34% of the playoff-bound team’s defensive snaps this year. He played in 12 Washington games but did not make much of a statistical impact, totaling only 17 tackles (two for loss). Mathis deflected a pass as well. He has yet to start an NFL game. Pro Football Focus has Mathis graded as the worst D-tackle regular (123rd overall) this season.
When Washington drafted Mathis 47th overall, questions about Daron Payne‘s long-term future loomed. Payne was set to play out his fifth-year option season; that year going well for the 2018 first-rounder led to a 2023 franchise tag and subsequent extension. With Allen signed long term and no strong consideration being given to trading the 2017 first-round pick, the Commanders’ youngest Alabama-produced DT lingered as a rotational player. Mathis also missed 16 games as a rookie due to suffering a season-ending injury in Week 1.
It is interesting the Jets have made this claim, seeing as they are without a GM and likely in the final days with interim HC Jeff Ulbrich. Mathis is set to carry a $1.8MM 2025 base salary. That price looks to have been fine for a few other teams to submit claims, but the next Jets regime will take a look at the 26-year-old defender.